Den Nye Konge
by FlyingMintBunnies
Summary: Mathias is an average Danish kid from Copenhagen, the country is turned upside-down by the death of the royal family in a boating accident, but for Mathias it's so much more. Royal AU, eventual DenNor.
1. Chapter 1

Den Nye Konge

**A/N: Firstly can I just say I'm sorry if this causes offence at anybody reading this, I use the real current royal families of Denmark and Norway in this fic (although this is set in the future). Seriously, I am obsessed with those royal families, especially the Danish, so I really don't mean any offence or harm in this fic...It's my second shot at a multi chapter, I hope that it's not absolutely terrible. **

.x.x.x.x.

Mathias really should've wondered why he and his mom were so well off. It's not like they should've been poor, but he's been raised by a single mother his whole life and they live in a fairly decent house; it's not massive, but it's larger than what you'd expect especially since he knows his mother doesn't get paid much by her job, it's fairly laid back. The thought's never rushed through his head, although if he were to ever guess it would be extremely unlikely that he would guess the correct answer...

"I give him a seven out of ten," a loud voice beams. This voice is Mathias Densen, although this full name is Mathias Joachim Henrik Frederik Densen, which is another thing he's never questioned in his life, the strangely long name.  
"This is like fifteen years old you know, and he's like...in his fourties," a less loud, but equally as cheery voice replies. Tino Väinämöinen, one of Mathias's closest friends, replies. The two teens (and Tino's boyfriend, Berwald, but he is in the other room getting some beer) are looking through a magazine and rating the hotness of each male out of ten.  
"I don't care, for a guy in his fourties he was HOT!" Mathias chants louder, looking at the picture of the Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark.  
Tino just shakes his head, "I'd still call him old, and he's even older now!"  
"Would you still love Berwald if he was old?"  
That shuts Tino up.

Berwald returns with the drinks not long later, overhearing a conversation with something to do with 'an old royal who really shouldn't be a seven'. They've had their game of rating the males out of ten in books and magazines and films for a long time. He places the beer between the two other males and sits next to his boyfriend.  
"What's this about some royal?" he asks, directing the question at Mathias, since he doubts Tino would give any member of any of the royal families a seven.  
"Mathias thinks Crown Prince Frederik should be a seven, he's old, and even on this old picture he's still old!" Tino holds up the picture in question, one of Frederik and his oldest son Christian when he was an infant. No doubt that Frederik was quite good looking.  
"Mhm...let Mathias think whatever he wants. I already have a ten out of ten right next to me," he looks at Tino, not smiling, but one that knows him well could tell in his eyes that he was happy.  
Mathias just makes gagging noises to himself and opens up his first beer, downing most of the drink in his first sip.

Of course, having a situation where three males sit around a magazine ranking the Crown Prince's looks isn't exactly normal in most people's eyes. Berwald and Tino had been dating since not too long after they met several years ago, they've been pretty much inseparable since, but not in a clingy way, they still act like friends when with other people. Mathias and Berwald, however, met when Berwald used to live next to the Dane (Berwald's originally from Sweden and moved to Denmark when he was quite young) and the two used to get into fights with each other a lot when they were younger. Often they argued over useless things such as who was taller.  
When Mathias was a teenager he had become a bit of an outcast caused by his sexuality (if not obvious by the looking through magazines, he's gay) and eventually went to the other outcasts, who were Berwald and Tino. The trio bonded over what they have in common (which is more than just their sexuality) and have been hanging out together ever since, apart from when Berwald and Tino decide they want a 'coupley moment' and Mathias gladly runs back home to spend the evening with his mother who he is extremely close to.

Speaking of Mathias's mother, that's the very person who sends him a text whilst he starts on his next beer. He pulls his phone out and sighs, telling his friends that he has to go home now, after all it was almost midnight. As you can guess, since he's been raised by her alone, Mathias is extremely close to his mother. He doesn't know this, but he barely looks anything like his father, although he does share some features with his half brothers that must've come from his father's side. His blonde hair that is slightly dark definitely comes from his mother, his eyes and smile from his father. And combined together, Mathias's good looks put Frederik's good ones from a while ago to shame; no doubt that if Mathias wasn't gay he would've had the girls all over him.  
Mathias makes it to his house after leaving his friends, taking his bike which he always has with him (like the large amount of Danes that cycle everywhere, and there are lots!) and cycling back home.

Kirsten, Mathias's mother, greets her son home with a big kiss on his head. She's never told Mathias anything about his father, as she was shushed as soon as she told him about the pregnancy. If word were to get out that could've caused major havoc which she didn't want, and neither did the man she slept with (as well as it meaning that his wife would find out about him cheating on her). That was probably another reason why their child support is so large, extra money just to keep quiet; since Kirsten knew that no one would find out anyway, she didn't think of it as too bad as they might as well have extra money. Fortunately for Kirsten, Mathias has seemed content enough in his life to ever ask his mother many questions about his dad.  
Life for the two of them recently has always seemed easy, a good school life, enough money to get by, good friends, and a close bond between mother and son means that there have been very few obstacles in life, and any that they've had have all been very minor.

Of course, that all changed in an instant.

.x.x.x.x.

"I am reporting from the southern coast of Greenland and as you can see there is a horrendous storm!" a reporter yells over the loud sound of waves and wind in the distance. All over the country and over most of the world there are reports being shown, all telling the same story. "This morning at around two in the morning, the Danish royal family was planning to land in Kulusuk when a freak storm hit their boat. Both the families of Crown Prince Frederik and his children, as well as the family of his brother, Prince Joachim and his children, were all present on the boat when this happened. We do not know wherever there are any survivors, but the change is extremely low. So far no bodies have been found, we will keep you updated."  
Kirsten mutes the TV as to not wake her son, it's five in the morning and she had just woken to hear this news. All over Denmark people are talking about the end of this line of the monarchy, all of the Queen's children and grandchildren are most likely dead. To her it feels like much more, she stares at the TV, shocked out of her mind.

"Mor? Are you alright?" Mathias had heard a noise, presumable the television, and had gone to the living room to investigate. Seeing his mother staring at the screen, her usual grin from her face, he quickly kneels next to her.  
"Hm?" She looks back at him, giving him the biggest and most fake smile she can muster, "Everything is alright, sweetie. Go back to bed?"  
Mathias shakes his head, smiling a bit, "It's 8am and I'm not some little kid. I can stay up if I want to."  
There's a few seconds delay before his mother starts laughing, "Good point." she replies, still focused on the T.V though, even though it's muted. Mathias gets the message and sits next to her, unmuting the T.V so he can get what's happened. After a few minutes of explaining, he nods and wraps an arm around her,  
"They're only a bunch of royals," he gives her shoulders a little squeeze before going to the kitchen to make them both a mug of delightful and warming coffee.  
"Ja..." she replies, still mostly out of it. Her large, brown eyes barely showing interest apart from at the large screen in front of her. Mathias frowns when he walks back in and places the mug next to her, retreating back to his room as to leave the woman alone. Of course he doesn't know what the real reason for her being sad over this is.

Things don't get better. Later on more news stories cover the major event of the royals in the accident. Later on it's revealed that the bodies of the ten royal members are in the bottom of the ship that they were sailing on, they were trying to keep safe in the bottom parts of the ship. Mathias is in his room when they announce this, talking to his friends online and checking what time his job starts (he works at a café nearby); he hears his mother yell out a surprised yelp. What he didn't know is that she's sat in the living room controlling her sobs, they are all dead.  
A reporter covers the story of how this would be the end of Queen Margrethe II's family line, as next in line is now her younger sister. The press all crown around the palaces waiting to see who can be the first person to get the statement from the Queen on what's just happened.

The Queen is in ill health. In her old age it is something obvious to the public and to everyone around her; of course, until recently, it was assumed that her oldest son Frederik would take the throne. Very few people have been able to talk to the Queen since, as expected. Only a few of her closest guards, and her sisters have been allowed to even see her. The Queen's sat in one of her finest chairs, her sister sat on the one next to her and holding her hand, trying to help calm her.  
"Margrethe..."  
The Queen sighs, her usual spark and happy glow which was there even in her ill health has suddenly all disappeared. "Benedikte...I need to talk to you about something."  
Benedikte simply nods, not expecting it to necessarily be anything of major importance, "Oh, about what?"  
"Well, if it is agreed, it will completely change the order of succession to the throne"  
At this information, Benedikte's mouth drops. She hadn't really prepared on being Queen, so it didn't bother her that this would potentially cause her to lose her place in line, however it did mean that there would need to be someone higher up in line, which as far as everyone knew they were all dead.  
"What do you mean?"  
"There's another heir"  
Benedikte shakes her head, "There can't be-"  
Before she can finish her sentence, her older sister pulls her closer and starts whispering in her ear about a secret that only two people knew. As each sentence reveals more, Benedikte's face shows a more and more surprised looks. After a few minutes she is informed,  
"Are you going to tell everyone and made sure it happens?" she asks,  
"I will do everything in my power to do so."

.x.x.x.x.

Everyone in the palaces rushes towards the meeting point, the Queen has called for an emergency meeting. Apart from the sound of loud shoes patting against the hard, wooden floors, the area is completely silent. The Queen stands, her sister by her side, and is facing the large group, ready to address them of what she had informed her younger sister on only a few hours before.  
"I have a very important piece of information to give you all," she starts, looking across at each person in the room. Only in there are her highest appointed staff. "This can change the order of succession to the Danish throne..." this statement causes a few murmurs to travel across the room, but they are soon silenced by the Queen's personal bodyguard. "Thank you... Almost twenty years ago now, my youngest son, Joachim, had come into my room in the palace, stating he had an emergency to talk about immediately. He told me, "Mother, I've done nothing terribly wrong", and at the time I guess I never realised what significance it could have been. He told me that he was drunk at a bar and ended up sleeping with an ordinary Danish woman from Copenhagen, and cheated on his wife, Princess Marie. I swore that I would keep his secret safe from anyone, especially his wife, from finding out, and that's exactly what I did," the Queen stops a moment, letting the staff all take in the information so far, some of them still seem slightly confused on how this can lead to a change in the succession of the throne.  
"Now. After...around two months or so, Joachim enters the room again, only this time with much more important news. The woman he slept with was pregnant with his child," this now causes a load gasp to be emitted across all of the staff, they are finally piecing together the parts of the puzzle and guessing in their heads exactly what significance this child may be. "Joachim's paid support for this child, to the mother, up until the child's eighteenth birthday. That was last year. We have a copy of his birth certificate somewhere, and we know the address of where he and his mother live. My suggestion is that although he wasn't born as a royal, an illegitimate grandchild is better than none, and I think that we should see if this young man is willing to take the place as Crown Prince."  
There's a deathly silence across the room, everyone more in shock than to actually suggest anything. When no one goes against the Queen's word, she nods and turns back around, walking back to her bedroom.  
"I will provide contact and I expect a group of guards to contact this boy and his mother immediately. Once we have DNA testing to prove he is really my grandson, and if he accepts the offer, we'll work from there. Are we clear?" the group of staff nod. "That is all then, thank you" and then the Queen departs again.

It doesn't take long for the guards to acquire a copy of the Queen's grandson's birth certificate and his address.  
One of the highest up guards is inside the Queen's room with her, running over the information on the pieces of paper he's just been given,  
"Your majesty, are you sure that this is the correct person?" he holds up the birth certificate to the Queen.  
"His name is Mathias Joachim Søren Frederik Densen, mother is Kirsten Densen, and his father is Joachim Holger Waldemar Christian. He's obviously the correct child.," she replies sternly. The guard nods and passes on the information in order to send more royal guards to the address of the family.  
"Yes, your majesty. Is there anything else?"  
She shakes her head, "Nej, that is it. Thank you, Peter,"  
He bows to her and leaves the room, passing on the orders to the other guards to set up the royal car and make sure thy get to the right address.  
Once handed over, the guard reads the address and hands it to the chauffeur, "Are we ready to leave and find this boy?"  
The other guard nods, sighing, "Ja. I am not so sure about the Queen's plans about this though-"  
He is cut off by the engine starting, a signal to get in and just head towards this house where they will meet the possible future King of Denmark.

.x.x.x.x.

Mathias's mother has calmed down eventually over the incident, although she is still in grieving over what had happened. It has been almost two weeks since the death of most of the current heirs to the throne, and they have almost started to function correctly. The country, however, is still beyond confused. The Queen has still not given any input on this (which the public do not know is because she is waiting to meet Joachim's son) and everyone is unsure what this means for the monarchy of the county.  
Mathias is blaring music loudly from the T.V, dancing whilst vacuuming in the kitchen, it's what he does in order for him not to get distracted and interested in something else. Kirsten doesn't mind the noise as long as it means that her son is vacuuming. Kirsten laughs at the moves Mathias pulls, but is soon distracted by hearing a knock at the door,  
"Mathias, the door's going! Turn that shit off!" she laughs, grabbing hold of the door handle and swinging it open. She definitely wasn't expecting the sight of seeing two guards, dressing in all black, but with Queen Margrethe's monogram on their suits.  
"We need to speak to Mathias Joachim Søren Frederik, please."  
"Yes...he's right in the other room." Kirsten definitely notices how these men are definitely from the Queen's palace, and runs into the kitchen to get Mathias.  
"Mathias!"  
"Mor, who's that? And why are they using my full name-"  
before he can finish, she cuts him off by ushering him into the living room. "This is him."  
The two guards look at each other before deciding to bow, "Pleased to meet you,"  
This only causes the young man to raise an eyebrow, "Huh? What's going on?"

The one man, who has a short, ginger beard, claps his hands together and looks at his colleague, "We were warning that he most likely would not have been told" he states, the other man, who is shorter and bald, nods.  
"Ja. I think either we or your mother need to explain something to you," the bald man looks towards Kirsten, who is fidgeting on the spot. She nods and puts a hand on Mathias's shoulder.  
"I should tell you about your father..."  
Mathias turns around, a childish glint of hope in his eyes, "Do I get to meet him?"  
That only makes Kirsten more sad, she shakes her head. "Unfortunately you can not...which is why these men are here."  
Mathias still isn't one hundred percent sure what's going on, but nods anyway. "You are dressed really smartly, was my dad rich or something?" he asks all three of them.  
"He had great wealth, but he was much more than just rich" the ginger bearded man replies.  
"Miss Densen, I think you ought to tell your son, it's better that he hear from you" the bald man states. The two men take a step back as to give Kirsten and Mathias more room, but they don't leave the house, or even the room for that matter.

Mathias is led onto the sofa, and his mother sits next to him, holding his hands.  
"I met your father in a bar..." she starts, trying to keep eye contact with him, but it's obvious that she's on the verge of tears. "He was a polite man and spoke very well, I soon recognised him as someone who I had seen in magazines and on the news," Mathias has to stop himself from accidentally blurting out and asking 'so my dad is famous or something?' but refrains from doing it in order to hear the rest of the story. "He...his name was- _is _Joachim" That doesn't necessarily surprise Mathias that much, he's always assumed that one of his middle names would've been his father's name. "...Prince Joachim."  
Now that catches him off guard. He stares at his mother, not exactly sure what she was talking about. He knows who Prince Joachim is, well, was, he was the younger brother of Crown Prince Frederik, and was the son of the Queen. He shakes his head,  
"You can't be serious..."  
"But I am...why do you think we have royal guards in our house, Mathias?!" she asks, pointing to the men only a few metres away. "They have the Queen's monogram on their suits"  
Mathias looks close at their clothing, before realising and nodding. "O-Okay...so they do... are you here to tell me your condolences about my dead father?" he asks, "Because I never knew him, so it's not like I'm grieving much..." He realises for a second how not that long ago he was convincing Tino how hot his Uncle was...this causes him to shudder, luckily no one else notices this shudder.  
"Actually...that is not what we're here to talk about" the bald one says,  
"It isn't?" Kirsten asks, "I was expecting this to be just an announcement...what's going on?"  
The two guards nod to each other.  
"Queen Margrethe II requests your presence at her palace in Amalienborg immediately"  
"Immediately?" Mathias asks,  
"Immediately" they confirm, and open the front door. "There is a car waiting out here for the both of you, please get in. Even if you do not want anything to do with us, we still request you meet the Queen at the palace"  
Kirsten nods and ushers her son towards the car, "Yes we will go. Right Mathias?"  
"Right" he replies, feeling slightly light-headed by all this news that is taking a while to get into his head and for him to believe that it's all actually happening.

They drive the car straight into the inside of the palace as not to be seen by any people who are present in Amalienborg, which as usual, there are several dozen.  
"Please follow me, the both of you," a third guard, who seems to appear out of nowhere, announces.  
The two follow eagerly, going up several corridors and stairs. It's almost exactly how you'd imagine a palace to look like. Mathias's thoughts go to Crown Prince Frederik's palace and how he's completely modernised it, this palace is nothing like that, which shows the time period in which the Queen was raised in is much different to Frederik's.  
After a fifteen minute walk they are lead to a large room and told to wait until called for by the Queen. It appeared that the room behind the small, cream door was most likely the Queen's office, a room that very few people get to go inside.  
"This must be something big..." Kirsten whispers to Mathias, who only nods, too shocked that this is even happening to speak.

"Queen Margrethe will see you now," the guard announces. Walking forward and opening the door, waiting for Mathias and his mother to walk inside.  
The Queen sits at her desk, looking through some papers when she hears the door open. Looking up, she is intrigued by the sight. A nineteen year old male appears in front of her, showing off the best of a smile, which still looks fantastic, and staring at her with some of the brightest blue eyes she's ever seen. His hair sticks up in many directions, something that looks modern but not hideous.  
"Please, take a seat" she says, pointing to the two seats which look as if they're made of gold right in front of her. They both sit nervously, waiting to hear her request.  
"You must be Mathias," she extends her hand, to which he takes it and shakes it firmly. "And you must be Kirsten" this time she turns to his mother, and they do the same. Internally Kirsten sighs with relief, as she's afraid that maybe the Queen may have a grudge against her for sleeping with her son and causing him to cheat on his wife, who never knew of this affair.  
"I have to discuss something important. With the death of my family members this leaves me with no children or grandchildren. Normally...we would never consider appointing a child who was not born a royal to become one. However, in a desperate situation, I have only to turn to my only remaining grandchild."  
The two soak this in, Mathias's head is spinning all over. _Is she talking about taking the throne? Who's her only grandchild? Wait, that's me. Oh my God._ He stares up at her,  
"Yes, your majesty..." he replies after a few seconds of silence.  
"Therefore...I would like to inform you that unless you choose to get rid of your royal status, as of now you are the Crown Prince of Denmark. Is that alright with you?"  
_Crown Prince? That means royal, that means next in line. _He starts breathing heavily, and looks back to his mother,  
"Nej, if you are to be King, I need to make sure you can make decisions for yourself. Are you okay with that?"  
Mathias nods.  
"Good. Firstly we need to do DNA testing to make sure you are my biological grandchild, a piece of paper isn't enough evidence"  
He nods again.  
"And you will move into Crown Prince Frederik's old palace immediately. Thank you."  
Now he is allowed to look back at his mother, the Queen retreats through a back door into another room, leaving them alone. "What just happened, Mor?"  
She gasps, her hands covering her mouth, which they had been doing during the whole meeting. "You've just become the Crown Prince of Denmark, Mathias."

**A/N: I don't know if that's a good end to the chapter or not. I hope again that it's not too bad, and that hopefully it'll be somewhat interesting for people to read. Thanks for reading if you did, and I hope you all enjoyed this. Chapter 2 may take a bit, depending on how much inspiration I have, or how much I write my other fic. Again, thanks for reading. **


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews and favourites, I hope people like this.  
Oddi, I really wish you had signed in to make that review, because I really really want to reply to it in PM :P  
And Dear Australia: I'm sorry for killing your princess.  
I am so sorry I took so long to write this, blame procrastination I guess. I really am terrible, hope people haven't lost interest during its absence.  
Thanks again for all the great reviews for the last chapter, hopefully the wait may have at least been partially worth it.**

.x.x.x.x.

Mathias lies down on the large, luxurious bed and runs his fingers down the soft, smooth, silk curtains that encase it. It's a typically royal looking bed, even though he's only in the guest palace. That morning he had had given samples for DNA testing to prove he is related to Margrethe, and is waiting for the results of that now. As soon as he gets positive results, the Queen told him he'll then be trained for a bit, before she will announce to the public that she has a new heir (although she won't tell them of Mathias's identity for a bit longer, she tells him).  
A knock at the door makes him forget of his trail of thoughts, "Come in," he says, knowing that guards will refuse to do so unless given permission, the authority both confuses and pleases Mathias.  
In comes a guard with his mother, who gives him a bright smile. "Hello sweetie, so how have you been today?" Her voice is cheery but Mathias can still tell that they're both trying to get used to this idea.  
Surprisingly enough to himself Mathias isn't one bit annoyed or upset that his mother hid the identity of his father, if things had gotten out there surely would've been a lot of bad press surrounding it.  
"I've got to wait for a few hours until test results come back" He doesn't try hiding the bored tone in his voice, his mother gets the hint.  
"Well then I can stay here and we can just chat for a bit?"  
Mathias thinks it over and shrugs, he's sure that it will be a while before he's allowed to speak to any of his friends again.

It's a few hours later that there's another stern knock at the door. Mathias immediately jumps up from his bed and heads over to open it; as he assumed, he's greeted by a guard.  
"The Queen would like to request your presence at the dining hall for dinner within the next five minutes."  
Mathias nods, although he doesn't think he'll need to get prepared so he just stands and heads for the door, "Lead the way?"  
The guard nods and carefully takes Mathias and his mother down to the dining hall. When they enter it's obvious that this is one of the main areas of the house. A large table, fit to hold at least two dozen people sits in the centre, many decorative pieces around the area give the feeling that you truly are in a palace. Mathias can't help but wonder if the royal family members have their own houses where they have normal seating arrangements, he struggles to imagine the previous family all having a chat in this room as if it were something casual.  
His thoughts are soon disrupted by the Queen's light cough in order to get their attention.  
"You may take a seat,"  
He looks over to his mother before the duo take a place opposite the Queen. The guards stand by the door (but that's expected) and Mathias is only given a second to compose himself before the Queen starts speaking again.  
"You're definitely my grandson. We shall immediately start informing you of your duties that you will need to have and also...train, you. I will write a formal statement to say to the public, although we will wait a while before showing you to them, and we will go from there although that won't be straight away. After the public is informed of who you are you will then start all royal duties that you need to. Do you understand?"  
Mathias nods, the words barely processing in his head. They were said so quickly and monotone that it still didn't seem real to Mathias.  
"You may stay here, we have plenty of work to do, we shall discuss some of this over dinner."  
"Yes your majesty."

_I feel sick _Mathias thinks as he looks at himself in the mirror. His reflection looks fine, and he knows he's fine. His mother is in her bedroom, doing whatever mothers do in their spare time, and Mathias is in his own bathroom, splashing his face with water, almost expecting himself to suddenly wake up and find that this has all been one strange dream and that he's at home in bed awaiting a home-made breakfast from his mother.  
_I'm surprised I haven't gone in to shock or something_, he looks at himself. No longer is he Mathias Densen some average guy from Copenhagen who spends his spare time working out, drooling over men, reading fairytales or cooking or something, now he's Kronprins Mathias. The name still sounds so foreign to him. During dinner Queen Margrethe had been lecturing Mathias on everything he's going to need to learn in order to be a 'decent' King, something Mathias would much rather want to surpass. She had sent a guard down to the largest library in Copenhagen to take out all the relevant books Mathias would need to study, he was told that he was expected to learn the history and tradition of the Royal family much more than what he has been taught in school or learnt from the media over the years of his life. Mathias couldn't help but wonder how much work these princes and princesses actually have to do, well that is until he was interrupted by the lovely sound of the guard bringing him said books.

"Tak, I'll start on it right away" Mathias says to the guard, in return he gets a tight nod and a bow before the guard leaves to go back to wherever he's supposed to be. As soon as he's alone Mathias sighs loudly, there's at least five large books here and he doesn't want to have to read through them all. He places them on the very expensive looking table and sits at it, deciding to have a go at starting. Mathias pulls his computer closely and brings up a word document, ready to type in the most important notes he gets from these books.  
"These are so old.." he mutters to himself, the dust built up quite a lot on two of them. Some of them include passages from the times of Viking Kings, others include important information on current Kings, even some as current as the Queen's father King Frederick IX.  
Eventually Mathias starts on reading the books, he's nose deep in the first one that tells the stories of Kings and Queens past, and it fascinates Mathias to think that this is his family's history, something he is still yet to get over. Despite the interest though, it still frustrates him, his word document is already several pages long of notes and he feels that this is never ending, a deep part of him almost wants to go back to drinking beer with his friends and rating sexy men's looks, oh the memories. Just as he's starting to build up pace, there's a knock at the door. Making Mathias jump, he sighs and puts a piece of paper as a bookmark and calls out to the door. Expecting it to be a guard, he lazily yells "Come in!" however he's surprised to find himself staring at the face of the Prince Consort, aka his grandfather.

Immediately Mathias bows down, although he does realise that is status of power as Crown Prince is almost definitely that more of the Prince Consort, but he is so used to hearing about him and the Queen on the news that it's almost an automatic action to bow before him. "Prince Henrik..." he says quietly, and looks up at the older man.  
"Kronprins Mathias, it's a great pleasure to meet you," Prince Henrik bows in return and holds out his hand to shake. Nervously, Mathias takes his hand and tries to give him a firm handshake, but still can't help at feeling strangely insignificant compared to the husband of the Queen. "I was out of the country when Margrethe broke the news to the guards and family of you becoming Crown Prince. I obviously knew of the affair, but was surprised at this decision. After doing some business in France I just had to come back here and meet you. You appear to be a very fine young man." Mathias nods, and he can tell that the grief is still very obvious in Prince Henrik's features (he has no doubt that Henrik was in France grieving with his family and maybe also the family of Princess Marie's as she's also from France) however he seems to be covering it up much better than Queen Margrethe, who Mathias doesn't blame for acting so cold towards him.  
"Thank you, Prince Henrik. Hopefully I will be able to fill my role well." The formal tone of his own voice sounds so unnatural to Mathias, but he knows that this is one of the many skills he will have to gain in order to so as he says and fill his role well.  
The two of them converse for a while longer, how long Mathias doesn't exactly remember, but he feels extremely exhausted after it.  
But there's no time for sleep, he has to keep reading these damned books.

.x.x.x.x.

Tino pulls Berwald by the sleeve of his jacket, and into the familiar hallway of the apartment block which Mathias's house is at.  
"He's pr'bably just 'sleep or somethin'. It's only been a f'w days"  
"But he hasn't even called us! Maybe he got in trouble with his mom or something, Ber-Ber!"  
The Swede grunts at his nickname his sweeter boyfriend had given him a few years before.  
"Nhg...okay. I highly doubt it though, h's mom likes him a l't"  
Tino shrugs off the comment and walks up to the same plain dark brown door as usual. Slowly he picks up the door knocker and whacks it against the door. Most people who see Tino will think of him as quite...feminine although that's simply an illusion. He once knocked on Berwald's door so hard to make sure he was heard (heck people in Finland could probably hear him) that he cracked the wood, and it didn't even hurt his hand. So the extremely loud knock would surely surprise anyone around.  
"N'thing...come on, let's go."  
"No! There's almost always someone home."  
"They could've g'ne shoppin' or somethin'"  
Tino nods, "I...I guess..." then remembers seeing their familiar red Toyota that Mathias owns outside the apartment block, "No wait! Their car's here!" He bangs again loudly on the door, "Mathias! Mathias, can you hear us? Kirsten? Hello? Hej? Moi? Come on!"  
Berwald makes sure to put a hand on Tino's shoulder to remind him not to knock too hard.  
"You w'rry too m'ch"  
Tino sighs, defeated. "Fine. I guess I do...come on, let's go."  
They barely make a few steps before becoming eye to eye with a strange man dressed in black. Berwald recognises the royal crest on his jumper but doesn't say anything.  
"Were you two the ones calling for Mathias?" the strange man asks them, only getting a nod in response he continues. "He's not there at the moment, were you expecting to meet with him?"  
"Uhm..." Tino mumbles, "We're his best friends, we see him a lot. If you know where he is tell him to call us?" Tino has no idea why he's telling this stranger this but if the man knows where Mathias is then that's all they have.  
He only nods and continues his walk in the direction of the Densen household. Berwald and Tino share a quick glance before exiting the apartment block.

Mathias groans as he looks upon the pile of books that has only become one book shorter. It took him several hours to make good notes and try and take in the information, and to be honest he is starting to feel a little tired. Just as he is thinking about hopping into bed quickly he gets another knock at his door. Not taking any chances this time, he gets up and opens it himself.  
"Prince Mathias, how are your studies going?" he thinks that it's a good thing that he didn't call lazily like he did with Henrik as he is now standing opposite the Queen. She had actually came to his room herself!  
"I've only finished one book, unfortunately."  
"That is good enough for today. Now I think you should start practising the way you speak, I have booked private lessons in order to make sure you speak correctly"  
_Lessons_ in order to speak correctly? Mathias has to force his usual smile onto his face and nod.  
"How good is your English? The princes usually can speak several languages"  
"My English is great, I think I'll pick up on the lessons quickly. I don't know anything else though.."  
"Maybe we can get you to learn some basic French and German"  
Mathias has to stop himself from sighing, learning languages, studying, formal speak, how much is he going to be bombarded with on his first day?!  
"If you consider that necessary, then I guess so" he again forces himself to speak formally.  
"Well I want to show you some videos now of various meetings with important figures, if I may take you from your studies to show you?"  
_Anything to get me out of all this reading_,  
"Yes."

.x.x.x.x.

The next few weeks take on a very certain order of things for Mathias to have to do. Every morning he eats breakfast with the Queen, then they go to the speaking lessons as Mathias refers to them as, then he is left alone to do some studying by himself until dinner time which he again spends with the Queen, and then evenings are spent with the Queen showing Mathias through many royal duties and various events in history that he'll need to know.  
It's during one of these dinners that Mathias and the Queen are discussing his progress.  
As per usual, Mathias's mother is also there, she has been helping him through his own studies much to the joy of Mathias and the Queen.  
"So you've finished your research with the books I sent you?"  
As soon as Mathias had made his way through the pile before, the Queen handed him another one twice as big, much to his distaste as he was certain that the one pile would hold more than enough information for him. Apparently not though.  
"Ja, I finished them this morning. Do I have any more that I need to study?"  
Much to his shock the Queen shakes her head.  
"Nej, this will do. That's the reason why tomorrow morning I will announce to the public that I have an heir"  
This makes Mathias almost spit out his carrots.  
"Hvad? Nej! I'm not ready! I won't be able to-"  
"You're ready. Don't worry, I won't reveal who you are just yet. We can continue with some more practices, and then I will reveal your identity and you can start joining me on my own royal duties before eventually going on your own,"  
Mathias feels like he's about to hyperventilate, he looks over at his mother who only gives him a small, encouraging smile.  
"Don't worry sweetie, everything will be fine."  
He swallows and has some more of his food.  
"Fine...but Queen Margrethe, I have a question"  
"What is it?"  
"If this is going to be one of my last days of freedom can I spend this evening with my friends? I haven't left the palace since I came here." He gives her a pleading look.  
The Queen pauses for a second, thinking wherever that could be done. "You mustn't tell them what's been happening, but yes, you may spend the evening with them today but your mother must be with you, you can't be getting hurt."  
Mathias nods.  
"You will be able to see them once you've been announced to Denmark though, as they could be allowed into the palace when you're not busy."  
Mathias grins massively and gives a small bow to the Queen.  
"Thank you, your majesty~"

As soon as the dinner's over, Mathias dresses in the best clothes he packed and heads with his mother over to Tino's house. Because he knew he would get distracted, he made sure that he didn't use any internet or his phone whilst in the palace. The only thing he used his laptop for was his study notes, and his phone was useless as the Queen probably didn't want him talking to anybody anyway. That means that the last time Mathias spoke to Berwald or Tino was before he was brought into the palace, which was a few months ago.  
Obviously his mother didn't just drive out of palace, a car escorted them to a building where Mathias and his mother entered and she subsequently got her parked car and drove them to the house of Tino's family. Usually if Berwald and Tino are to go to one of their houses it's usually Tino's, Mathias doesn't know why.  
"It's been months since I last spoke to anyone properly!" Mathias whines to his mother, "It's the first time in AGES that I've been able to actually act like I normally do!"  
She gives him a smile, "True, but you've done so much and as soon as the country knows about you then things will relax a bit more, as soon as you've been accepted by the people and they've gotten over the fact that the line of succession has changed," Mathias frowns, thinking that that will probably never happen, or at least not until the next generation of children are born.  
"It'll be great to have this one last night with these guys. The next time I see them I'll be a prince."  
"But you'll be the greatest prince this country's ever had, sweetie."  
"Hah, right."

Mathias takes a deep breath and knocks at the familiar bright blue door of the Väinämöinen household. He doesn't even know why he feels nervous. He looks back at his mother in the car, which is parked in the driveway, and waits, hoping that either Tino or Berwald will answer.  
He is relieved to see that Tino answers the door. The Finn's facial expressions change several times in the span of a few seconds. First from annoyance (probably at having to stop his most likely make out session with Berwald to get the door), then to shock, then to excitement, then glee, and then Mathias is suddenly pulled in for one of Tino's usual strong hugs that knocks the wind out of you.  
"MATHIAS!" Tino eventually pulls away from the hug. The loud exclamation of their guest's name causes Berwald to come over to investigate. "Where have you been?!"  
Mathias gives him a big smile, "Well... I kind of can't tell you. I know that sounds totally weird and everything, and I'm going to end up going randomly for a while but I promise that I'll come back, okay!"  
Tino raises and eyebrow, and Berwald looks curious.  
"Well it's good to h've you b'ck, I guess" The Swede mutters,  
Mathias gives him a small grin, "It's great to be back. Now, mor is waiting in the car to take us back to my place so we can chill for the night, does that sound cool?"  
The two of them nod, Tino very enthusiastically, "Of course! We'll have to watch DVDs, chill, and Ber and I can tell you all about the stuff you've missed."  
Mathias leads them back to the car (Tino making Mathias sit in the back between him and Ber instead of in the passenger's seat because he's missed him so much) and thinks to himself about how this time he'll have to make sure he can make him to keep in contact with them over social media, that is, once he's figured out the Wifi password at the palace.

The trio sit on the carpet in the middle of Mathias's living room talking about the past few months. It's at that point that Mathias really realises how ignorant to the rest of the world he had to be whilst being shut in the palace, then he thinks that it's a bit like the stories you hear of princesses being forced to stay inside the castle, apart from he's not a princess obviously.  
"So, when are we going to bring out the alcohol?" Tino cheers, at that point they've been chatting for an hour.  
Mathias's other butts in, "We've got no alcohol at the moment,"  
This obviously doesn't surprise Mathias, since he knows they have alcohol, but he wouldn't be allowed any (yet another reason why he wishes he didn't have to be shut up in the palace all day, he wants to get to drink beer!) so he assumes his mother is lying to make things less suspicious.  
"WHAT?!" Tino yells, then looks at Mathias with a 'please tell me it's not true' look.  
Mathias tries to put on a somewhat shocked expression, "Well er...we haven't been here much recently so..."  
The Finn shakes his head, "Next time we meet up we're going to get absolutely hammered, okay?"  
Mathias laughs, patting Tino on the shoulder, "Okay~"  
It's after that that Tino decides they should play some board games, so out comes the twister mat.

"BERWALD GET YOUR ASS OUT OF MY FACE!" Mathias yells, whilst trying to hold in loud fits of laughter. Tino isn't doing as well and is tangled somewhere between Mathias's chest and Berwald's legs.  
"I can't h'lp it"  
"You fat lump"  
Berwald just glares at Mathias. Kirsten's the one in charge of spinning the spinner to decide who puts their hands or feet where. She, much like Tino, is not able to hold in her laughter either as she spins for Berwald.  
"Berwald honey, right hand green."  
Berwald, much used to being called such by Mathias's mother since he's known her since he was a child, grunts in acknowledgement as he looks upon the green spot. It's going to be a tricky move. He slowly moves his hand, and is happy that he is able to keep up in that position.  
However the slight problem is that this caused his body to move forward a bit, and therefore causing his ass to make actual contact with the side of Mathias's face.  
It doesn't take him a split second to react, "AAAH AAAH. GET YOUR ASS OFF MY FACE. EW EW EW, AAAAAAAH. IT BURNS!" he yells at the top of his voice. Berwald is obviously amused (even if he doesn't even grin), whilst Tino and Kirsten start bursting into loud laughter.  
"It seems like we're cheek to cheek" Berwald mumbles, causing the other two to laugh louder, and Mathias to scream even more.  
No matter how hard she tries, Kirsten can't calm down, but she still spins for Tino.  
Between laughs she splutters out, "Tino, left hand blue"  
The movement is easy, but with all the laughing Tino is shaking before he even makes the move, and as soon as he takes his left hand off of the map he collapses, which causes Berwald to slip as their legs were intertwined, leaving Mathias as the only man standing.  
He jumps up, flashes his signature smile, and laughs loudly,  
"And the King Mathias is the victor yet again!"  
Of course the irony of that childhood nickname he gave himself when he was younger only just sinks in.

.x.x.x.x.

When Mathias returns to the palace it's around midnight. The night had ended a few hours later after more food, games, and general chat. Mathias promised to text them the next day and not lose contact like he did last time. He will have to ask Margrethe about that tomorrow.  
Also, when he was out, Mathias had realised how little he actually knew about what was going on. How were people reacting to the news of the royal family? Nothing had been said by the palace at all since the incident happened, so whilst Mathias knows everything, the general public have no clue about what's happening or what's going to happen.  
Because of this, Mathias decides to turn on the expensive TV in his room. It's not massive or anything, but he can tell that the quality of the image and sound means that this thing must have cost someone a lot of money. Once he's flicked through various channels he finds a news/political/chat show that airs late at night on one of the channels. Three men are stood around a table, one of them is plump with grey-ish brown hair which is balding in the middle, the others are a sharp looking chap with black hair and glasses, and a short, scruffy middle-aged man who looks like he could be homeless. Mathias recognises all three of them from various shows, but the names fail to appear in his head as he watches the discussions taking place. Not even ten minutes after he starts watching, the topic quickly changes to the royal family.  
"So, we got news today that the Queen is making an announcement tomorrow," the short man starts,  
"I think they're going to be telling us that the royal family will discontinue after Queen Margrethe," the balding man replies, which causes a nod of agreement amongst the other two.  
"There's no way it can happen. Next in line would be Princess Benedikte after the Queen, but her children are not eligible to the throne so after her it would go to their cousin Princess Elisabeth but she doesn't have children. The Queen's grandfather King Christian only had two children so that means to go to the next heir we would have to go to his brother's descendants, which would be ridiculous." the short man states. Mathias has to think that all through, basically realising that unless Benedikte's children would be allowed to be heirs (which everyone doubts would happen, although the situation is desperate) then the royal line has basically ended with the current Queen. Maybe this will mean Mathias might be more welcomed? His heart rate speeds up at the thought of everyone first meeting him.  
"Although, maybe she could be announcing to us that Benedikte's children will be allowed to take the throne?"  
"It would be a miracle,"  
Mathias keeps all eyes and ears on the discussion, thinking how all of Denmark is holding their breath in anxiety for tomorrow's announcement.  
Well he's sure it will be a shock at least.

The next morning Mathias is dressed in his best clothing. He isn't sure why he is, it's not like anyone will be seeing him, he'll be watching the speech by behind the doors to the balcony where the Queen will stand. Apparently the Prime Minister is in the back room with the Queen, and Mathias is just sat there, anxiously awaiting the public response, and having the living hell squeezed out of his hand by his nervous mother.  
The noise of someone entering the large room attracts his attention, and his hand is finally relieved of the uncomfortable pressure being put upon it. The guard gives a curt bow to Mathias,  
"Prince Mathias. We request your presence in the side room, don't worry, you will have a clear view of the Queen. The parliament and various TV crews will be in this room once Her majesty starts her speech."  
He nods and stands up, mother following, as they enter into the small room. In there are various guards and other people who already know of Mathias's existence, including the Queen. She points to a large screen,  
"You will have a split screen, of the speech, reactions of the people awaiting below, and of the room where I will mostly be interviewed in afterwards, so that you, and everyone here, can see everything that happens." The Queen informs him. He nods a thanks and sits on a chair next to his mother right in front of the screen. The other guards all crowd around as the Queen exits the room.  
Nobody in Denmark isn't watching this live. All schools and workplaces across the country have been closed for this one speech. Everyone expecting this to be the end of a major part of their history, the royal family. One of the oldest in Europe and the world, the Danish royal family has been going on for well over a thousand years, no longer are the days when you could easily just borrow a King from another royal family, much like the Norwegians had done when they lost their royal family to the plague several hundred years ago when they were given a Danish royal to become their King (a fact that Mathias had been reminded of during his studying, which makes him tempted to, when first meeting the Norwegian royal family which he is sure to do eventually, greet them as the other Danish royal family. But he's sure they wouldn't appreciate that).  
Everyone in Denmark, and the whole world, is watching with baited breath as the Queen makes her way to the balcony.

"These past few months have been the hardest time in my life," she licks her lips, there's complete silence, not even a whisper. "Our country is in mourning, as is my whole family...I have been consoled by everyone that sees me. We're all still in shock, but the first step to getting better is accepting what fate and God have brought us... I have lost my children and grandchildren, and I know that the country is confused as to what will happen with the royal family once the day comes that I am no longer with you all..." She gives a slight sigh, and looks around at all of the people below. Amalienborg hasn't been this crowded in a very long time, with the people and all the flowers of mourning it looks more like a garden than a square of palaces. "This may seem something strange for me to do, but I am going to tell you a story of something that happened twenty or so years ago." The people everywhere seem to look somewhat confused, but most assume this will just be some speech further telling us of how great the royal family were and various wonderful things they have done and achieved before their unfortunate deaths. She spits out the next part without any breaks, waiting to see the reactions of the people afterwards, "Many years ago, my youngest son Joachim had came to me, explaining that he had done something very bad. He had fornicated with a woman who he met in a bar in Copenhagen. Wanting to clear himself of his guilty conscience he told me this, and I promised him I wouldn't tell anybody. It was a secret kept between the two of us, mother and son. The story doesn't stop there... a few months later he had came to me again, this time with a much more serious problem, the woman was pregnant with his child," she makes sure not to stop, but she can't help but hear the gasp of everyone, the whole country, at the reaction to what their Queen, much like a sweet mother figure to the country, is telling them. "The child grew up in Copenhagen at all times, so we do not face the same problem as we do with my nieces and nephew. After many months of training and tests and everything to make sure this young man is the child of my son, we have come to a conclusion."  
The Queen looks the cameras, and thus the whole country, in the eye.  
"This young man...is Den Nye Konge!"

**A/N: Thank you so much if you read this! I again can not apologise enough for my delay in writing this, although I did put in the last chapter that I may take a while. Don't worry, I won't ever give up on this. For anyone wanting to know Lukas should make an appearance next chapter, but if I write too much then he may have to wait for chapter four, but don't worry he's coming soon ;D.  
I hope this chapter is as enjoyable as I hoped it would be!  
Thank you everyone who favourites and reviews this! **


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